Cramp

Cramp is a performance that deals with the experience of air pressure and air flow. The starting point of the performance is the experience of a mental, physical and climatic pressure.

If humankind has 10-15 years to act before climate change will make the planet unlivable, how does the duration of this time feel inside and on the surface of the body?

What does the embodied tension do, when economic and material resources are becoming more sparse and make one feel like there is an invisible waiting, endurance and limit? If weather phenomena and low pressure fronts travel through the body and mind, what is the body in relation to the world? Is the body a medium, part clouds and part a human body?

The performance seeks to create situations where air is a performer, where it circulates, blocks, happens and feels. We will vocalize and embody air, studying how and with what intensities the unmaterial becomes material and the invisible becomes visible. The performance will use inflatable objects, seeking to create a social, kinaesthetic and affective atmosphere within the space.

Concept, performers: Milka Luhtaniemi, Selma Reynisdóttir Sound design: Eero Pulkkinen Space/ object design: Oscar Dempsey

Performance on 13th March at 19.00 Duration 1 hour

Supported by Nordic Culture Point.

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Selma Reynisdóttir (born 1992) is a performance artist based in Reykjavík. She graduated from the Icelandic University of the Arts in 2018. During the autumn semester of 2017 she attended the contemporary dance program at the Theatre Academy of Helsinki. In 2015 Selma took part in a foundation year at Reykjavík Art’s Academy, focusing on visual arts. Selma is one of the founders of the performance group Sálufélagar or Soulmates, together with Nína Hjálmarsdóttir.

Milka Luhtaniemi (born 1992) is a dramaturg, performance artist and poet based in Helsinki. She is completing her MA in performance dramaturgy in the Theatre Academy of Helsinki. Her work is focused on multidisciplinary and installative performance work, and she often deals with the affective live situation and performative agencies of materials and phenomena, studying the poetic logic of living. Her work has been shown in Third Space Gallery, Oksasenkatu 11, Asematila, B-galleria and Tiivistämö in Suvilahti.

Oscar Dempsey (born 1992) is a practising artist and scenographer working with production companies and arts projects. Dempsey has exhibited artwork and designs internationally throughout the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Finland. His key artistic aim is to alter people’s perception of themselves and those around, mediating this through sculpture, installation and performance. These interdisciplinary sets, hint at both unsocial emotions and isolation of the creative mind in modern society.

Eero Pulkkinen (s. 1983) works in the fields of sonic art and visual art, sound design and music. Lately he has specialized in site-specific sound-, text- and spatial installations, concerts and radiophonic works. He has made sound design for experimental films, video works and performing art works. His works have been presented in Finland and abroad, in several exhibitions and international film festivals. He is active in groups Breakup, Running, New Sincerity, Map – Territory and W. He has graduated from the sound design department of the Theatre Academy.